Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Michael F. Chiang @michaelfchiang.bsky.social · Jun 12

It was wonderful to meet you here, although I wish I’d been able to hear you speak!

Michael F. Chiang @michaelfchiang.bsky.social · May 1

NIH R50 funding opportunity to provide salary support for Research Software Engineers who work on developing or disseminating biomedical-related software, tools, or algorithms.

Next deadline is Weds 6/4/2025. Details:
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

RFA-OD-24-011: NIH Research Software Engineer (RSE) Award (R50 Clinical Trials Not Allowed)

NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: NIH Research Software Engineer (RSE) Award (R50 Clinical Trials Not Allowed) RFA-OD-24-011. OD

grants.nih.gov

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Michael F. Chiang @michaelfchiang.bsky.social · Apr 30

To people interested in technologies such as organoids, computational models, real-world data (and others):

NIH is announcing a new initiative to expand innovative, human-based science in research. Aligns with FDA initiative to reduce testing in animals.

Details: www.nih.gov/news-events/...

NIH to prioritize human-based research technologies

New initiative aims to reduce use of animals in NIH-funded research.

www.nih.gov

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Michael F. Chiang @michaelfchiang.bsky.social · Jan 16

Thanks and agree it will be important to consider factors such as quantity, quality, and utility of data.

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Michael F. Chiang @michaelfchiang.bsky.social · Jan 14

NIH is sponsoring a $1M Data Sharing Index ("S-Index") Challenge to develop a metric for assessing how effectively researchers share useful data. Can use to build more culture of open/team science.

Webinar coming up (Tues 1/28/25, 12pm ET): bit.ly/4h8vgrs

More info about Challenge: bit.ly/4abRypX

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Michael F. Chiang @michaelfchiang.bsky.social · Dec 20

Thank you for drawing attention to this, Atul! Research increasingly requires data sharing, and it will be fantastic to have better ways to measure & incentivize it...

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Michael F. Chiang @michaelfchiang.bsky.social · Dec 19

Here's a website that describes the NIH "s-index challenge" to promote data sharing by developing a robust metric to identify exemplary data sharers.

National Eye Institute is excited lead a large group of participating NIH institutes (shown on website).

www.freelancer.com/contest/NIH-...

NIH Data Sharing Index (S-index) Challenge

Check out this contest and enter now!

www.freelancer.com

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Michael F. Chiang @michaelfchiang.bsky.social · Dec 19

Last year, the National Eye Institute held a workshop on extracellular vesicles for vision research (needs, gaps, opportunities).

Here's a white paper that summarizes key findings from that workshop: isevjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

A perspective from the National Eye Institute Extracellular Vesicle Workshop: Gaps, needs, and opportunities for studies of extracellular vesicles in vision research

With an evolving understanding and new discoveries in extracellular vesicle (EV) biology and their implications in health and disease, the significant diagnostic and therapeutic potential of EVs for ...

isevjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Michael F. Chiang @michaelfchiang.bsky.social · Dec 18

There is a new National Institutes of Health (NIH) public access policy. This is based on the premise that increasing access to publications resulting from NIH funding offers many benefits to the scientific community as well as the public.

Details: grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

NOT-OD-25-047: 2024 NIH Public Access Policy

NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: 2024 NIH Public Access Policy NOT-OD-25-047. OD

grants.nih.gov

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Michael F. Chiang @michaelfchiang.bsky.social · Dec 16

Led by Dan Huh (Penn Bioengineering) and Jeongyun Seo, with many collaborators including Vivian Lee, Vatinee Bunya, Mina Massaro-Giordano MD (Scheie Eye Institute), Vivek Shenoy (Penn Materials Science and Engineering), Woo Byun, Andrei Georgescu, Yoon-Suk Yi, Farid Alisafei.

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Michael F. Chiang @michaelfchiang.bsky.social · Dec 16

Dry eye disease is very common and can be extremely frustrating for people, yet there are surprisingly few FDA-approved drug options.

Here's a video about an eye-on-a-chip model that creates a potential experimental drug testing platform (NEI-funded): www.youtube.com/watch?si=LfU...

A New Device Helps Treat Dry Eye

YouTube video by National Eye Institute, NIH

www.youtube.com

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Michael F. Chiang @michaelfchiang.bsky.social · Dec 13

Here's a video about neat work supported by the National Eye Institute about using stem cells to treat corneal injury!

Led by Ula Jurkunas (Harvard/Mass Eye & Ear) and Jerome Ritz (Dana Farber Cancer Institute).

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Michael F. Chiang @michaelfchiang.bsky.social · Dec 13

www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1hp...

Using stem cells to treat corneal injury

YouTube video by National Eye Institute, NIH

www.youtube.com

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Michael F. Chiang @michaelfchiang.bsky.social · Dec 12

There is planning at NIH to inform a potential major Common Fund program called "Precision Medicine with AI: Integrating Imaging with Multimodal Data (PRIMED-AI)".

If interested: virtual strategic planning workshop (3/11-12/2025). Free registration.

Details: commonfund.nih.gov/potential-pr...

Strategic Planning Workshop | NIH Common FundLock

Strategic Planning WorkshopMarch 11-12, 2025, 11AM – 5PM ET | VirtualRegistration now open!

commonfund.nih.gov

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Michael F. Chiang @michaelfchiang.bsky.social · Dec 11

Information about a paid year-long internship through the NIH Bridge2AI program (focuses on AI/data science, biomedical & clinical research, mentorship; application deadline 1/17/2025) is here: shileyeye.ucsd.edu/research/ai_...

Shiley Eye Institute | UC San Diego

The Shiley Eye Institute is the only academic institution in the San Diego area with comprehensive programs for the clinical care of patients with eye disorders, cutting edge research on surgical tech...

shileyeye.ucsd.edu

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Michael F. Chiang @michaelfchiang.bsky.social · Dec 11

Information about accessing the dataset (currently 1000 people, 2TB, and growing) is here: aireadi.org

Artificial Intelligence Ready and Equitable Atlas for Diabetes Insights

Generating a flagship AI-ready and ethically-sourced dataset to support future AI-driven discoveries in diabetes

aireadi.org

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Michael F. Chiang @michaelfchiang.bsky.social · Dec 11

Here's an amazing multimodal dataset optimized for #AI research in type 2 #diabetes (clinical/EHR, imaging, blood, urine, questionnaires, activity & continuous glucose monitoring, environmental data, more...).

@natureportfolio.bsky.social, funded by NIH Bridge2AI: www.nature.com/articles/s42...

AI-READI: rethinking AI data collection, preparation and sharing in diabetes research and beyond - Nature Metabolism

Here, we introduce Artificial Intelligence Ready and Equitable Atlas for Diabetes Insights (AI-READI), a multidisciplinary data-generation project designed to create and share a multimodal dataset opt...

www.nature.com

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Michael F. Chiang @michaelfchiang.bsky.social · Dec 10

Interesting article from The Scientist about careers in science policy. I've loved working with so many people like this at NIH!

www.the-scientist.com/what-does-a-...

What Does a Career in Science Policy Entail?

Science policy plays a crucial role in shaping research and funding, but its science policy analysts who evaluate and refine these policies to ensure that they effectively support scientific progress ...

www.the-scientist.com

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Michael F. Chiang @michaelfchiang.bsky.social · Dec 10

Additional photos during and after...

Hendrikje Nienborg, Richard Lee, Santa Tumminia, Michael Chiang, Marla Feller, Joe Menetski, Kapil Bharti

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Michael F. Chiang @michaelfchiang.bsky.social · Dec 10

Thanks - I would have loved to see *your* talk at NIH, but was away at the time!

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Michael F. Chiang @michaelfchiang.bsky.social · Dec 10

He is very much around…

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Michael F. Chiang @michaelfchiang.bsky.social · Dec 9

Today, Marla Feller (@mfeller.bsky.social) from UC-Berkeley delivered the Sayer Vision Research Lecture at NIH.

Beautiful talk about visual neuroscience & development entitled "Riding the retinal wave through visual system development".

Photo of Dr. Marla Feller speaking at NIH.

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Michael F. Chiang @michaelfchiang.bsky.social · Dec 9

Quick story from @nypost.com.web.brid.gy a NYC traffic light that was installed upside-down. Quotes Bevil Conway from National Eye Institute about potential confusion for people with red-green color blindness...

nypost.com/2024/12/07/u...

Exclusive | Traffic light installed upside-down in NYC — and it’s stayed that way for months

The city installed an upside-down traffic light outside a Tribeca bar — and it’s been blinking away for months, The Post has learned.

nypost.com

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Michael F. Chiang @michaelfchiang.bsky.social · Dec 6

Here are some photos of National Eye Institute staff from our recent Director's Awards Ceremony. Truly privileged to work with this amazing group of people!

Photo from National Eye Institute Director's Awards ceremony.

Photo from National Eye Institute Director's Awards ceremony (Tiarnan Keenan, Emily Chew)

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Michael F. Chiang @michaelfchiang.bsky.social · Dec 5

Superb meeting hosted by @elsevierconnect.bsky.social on "Tomorrow Today in Research: Perspectives from Government, Industry, Academia"

Fascinating discussions with extremely thoughtful & accomplished speakers about how we can create better research culture for societal impact of work.

Jenny Luray, Tina Zdawczyk, Heather Richter, Charles Isbell, Angela Bednarek.

Charles Johnson-Bey, Pramod Khargonekar, Susan Martinis, Grace Yuan, Ann Gabriel

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